Tiendesitas is a shopping complex that showcase the Philippines best products from art, antiques, furniture, handicrafts to native food, fashion wear and accessories, personal care and novelty items, pets, plants, and other locally made products.
It transforms into a music venue at 9 P.M. Shoppers here can spend the entire day scouring the shelves and racks, and still look forward to staying till the evening.

Mall of the Valley (30% completed). Phase 2 is under construction...ground floor will be the wet market(Metropolitan Tuguegarao Central Public Market),1st floor will be the tuguegarao market market.. second floor and third (other businesses) fourth floor will be the seat of the call center (4th floor phase 1) Phase 2 (other business) The mall can accommodate 680 to 750 stalls. It is the biggest mall in the region (if sm and robinson malls will not yet be constructed in the city)

AN innovative initiative for small and medium enterprises now gives Filipinos the convenience of sending and receiving cash to and from their loved ones using Smart Money at Hapinoy outlets. In a recent agreement between the country’s leading wireless services provider and the Philippines’ first and only sari-sari store chain, Hapinoy stores have now officially become accredited Smart Money Centers.

There are close to 10,000 Hapinoy Stores in operation today, comprised of 75 community stores and thousands of retail outlets strategically located in towns and baranggays of South Luzon, Central Luzon, and Bicol. Selected Hapinoy stores will enable townfolk to load funds into, or withdraw cash from their Smart Money electronic wallets without having to travel long distances to banks or remittance centers.
They may also easily load their Smart and Talk ‘N Text mobile phones at all Hapinoy stores.

“We are happy to expand our current partnership with Hapinoy, to spur entrepreneurial opportunities and economic growth for members of the Base of the Pyramid [BOP],” said Orlando Vea, Smart chief wireless advisor. “By becoming Smart Money Centers, Hapinoy Stores will allow us to give more Filipinos additional ways to improve their livelihood, while at the same time providing easier access to Smart’s cutting-edge products and services, including our award-winning Smart Money platform,” Vea added.

This new collaboration is an enhancement of the partnership sealed in 2007 with Microventures, Inc. (MVI)—the social business enterprise behind Hapinoy. MVI initiated the Hapinoy project in an effort to empower sari-sari stores by linking them directly to partner product manufacturers and microfinance institution (MFI) partners such as CARD. As a result, Hapinoy store owners are able to get higher margins on their sold goods, to save via new efficiency measures, to enjoy merchandising support and product testing from Talk ‘N Text, and to have additional sources of income through the electronic financial services offered by Smart.

Smart Money is the world’s first reloadable electronic wallet linked to a mobile phone. Through Smart Money, account holders may send and receive cash using their cellphones, all at the speed of a text message.

Earlier this month Smart was the only Southeast Asian company to receive the World Business and Development Award from the International Chamber of Commerce, Prince of Whales International Business Leaders Forum, and UN Development Programme. Smart’s programs, including Hapinoy, were cited for servicing the Base of the Pyramid, and for changing the way Filipinos communicate.

“We are excited with this newest development in our Smart partnership. In the same manner that we aimed to give micro-entrepreneurs viable and sustainable business opportunities, we are happy to provide BOP members with easier access to financial services which they otherwise had limited access to. Hand in hand with Smart, we hope to alleviate poverty, one sari-sari store at a time,” said MVI president Bam Aquino.

The Hapinoy Store project serves as a vehicle for opening new sustainable business opportunities for Filipino micro-entrepreneurs. The project also benefits members of the communities being serviced by Hapinoy Stores, as they are given access to goods and services, including Smart and Talk ‘N Text products, at competitive prices.

Hapinoy now joins the ranks of local and international institutions offering Smart’s mobile commerce solutions. A trusted enabler of partners here and abroad, Smart Money has established linkages with the leading banks of the Philippines, the country’s primary ATM consortia, local and international remittance companies, and millions of MasterCard establishments found all over the world and on the worldwide web.

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THE STA. ANA Public Market along Pedro Gil Street in Manila is the second in Metro Manila with a wastewater-treatment facility. Muntinlupa set up the first facility in 2004, also in its public market. ANDREW TADALAN

MANILA, Philippines—Faced with the herculean task of cleaning up the Pasig River, nongovernment organizations and government agencies are taking baby steps toward resurrecting the biologically dead waterway.

With waste water making up 60 percent of Pasig River pollutants, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Rotary Club, the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA), and the city of Manila linked the waterway cleanup to the pollution source.

The recent launching of the waste-water treatment facility at the Sta. Ana Public Market was “a good start,” Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim told Inquirer during the project’s inauguration held recently near the banks of the river. “It will contribute to cleaning up the Pasig River. We have to start somewhere.”

Deterioration

The Pasig River started deteriorating in the 1930s, when decreased fish migration was noted in the waterway. In 1990, the river was declared biologically dead, with domestic and industrial waste water blamed as the culprit.

Waste water from the marketplaces is described by one of the project proponents to be “very highly polluted and of high strength.” The wastewater-treatment facility is anticipated to address seepage into the Pasig River coming from the Sta. Ana Public Market’s sewage system.

Lisa Lumbao, chief of party of the USAID Philippine Sanitation Alliance (PSA), told the Inquirer that the groups involved in the project were initially focused on the clean-up of the river as a whole, a colossal effort as it involves a 27-kilometer stretch of waterway.

“Wastewater from households was the primary contributor to pollution. But addressing this would call for a big project,” Lumbao explained.

She said that USAID, the Rotary Club and the MMDA settled on one project, the success of which would indicate the feasibility of wastewater management along the banks of the Pasig River.

The Sta. Ana Public Market wastewater-treatment facility is anticipated to be a model of future projects in the city with the marketplace touted to be the cleanest and greenest in the locality in the near future.

Lim said the city could replicate the Sta. Ana project at the Quinta and other public markets situated near the banks of the Pasig.

Cheaper system

USAID-PSA consultant Carlito Santos Jr., an engineer who designed the treatment facility, said the operational cost of maintaining the facility was much cheaper than the conventional system and is easier to manage.

The system uses minimal electricity for the maintenance of one tank with separate chambers and makes use of naturally occurring bacteria to break down pollutants in the waste water.

The treatment is based on sequencing batch reactor (SBR) technology and works by utilizing one tank for the separate steps in the wastewater-treatment process; conventional treatment plants require separate tanks. It requires only sparing use of air blowers enhanced with fine bubble diffusers, thus saving on electricity and other costs while being more efficient in transferring oxygen to water.

Santos compared the treatment facility to a huge aquarium with a filtration system.

He explained that the treatment works initially with the separation of solid waste through screening. Filtered wastewater flows through the equalization tank, which balances the flow of the water, then undergoes the anaerobic process where organic pollution is reduced by 50 to 70 percent by microorganisms.

Other uses

The water that comes through the chambers ends up at the sequencing batch reactor where oxygen is introduced. The final stage is disinfection. A small dose of chlorine is mixed with the water before it is discharged into the river.

“The recycled water from the treatment facility could be used for irrigation and for flushing toilets,” Santos said, adding that the public market could save up to 30-40 percent of operational costs.

The Sta. Ana Public Market wastewater-treatment facility is the second of its kind in Metro Manila. The first was set up at the Muntinlupa City Public Market in 2004 where treated wastewater is used for toilet flushing and street washing.

USAID has also introduced the system to Plantation Bay in Cebu and El Nido in Palawan.

Teresita Morante, president of the Sta. Ana Public Market Vendors Association, told the Inquirer that they were looking forward to a cleaner and greener market, with more customers flocking to its spic-and-span stalls.

In the past, it was everyone for himself at the market when it came to disposing waste.

“Now, not only do we have a better system, we can also help in cleaning up the Pasig River in our small way,” Morante said.